Unpopular Opinion Time

I used to be one of those people who completely steered clear of controversial topics. Anything that could potentially cause arguments, I avoided like the plaque. However, as I have grown up (especially over the past four years I have been in University) and have discovered who I am and what I believe on a deeper scale, I have found that it is nearly impossible to avoid conflict sometimes. Sometimes you have to stand up for what you believe is right, even if causes people to go against you. So saying all that, I am warning you that what I have to say may be an unpopular opinion. I may have people completely disagree with me, but I have to express my opinion. I can't sit idly by and watch as people spew hateful words at others while claiming that they are following 'Christ'.

First of all, I am a Christian. And as a believer in Christ I can't watch as others who claim to love Him and follow His ways take His Word and complete turn it around. I can't stand some of the people in my own country who are denying the rights of thousands of people because their views on life (or whom they choose to love) are different than theres. I can't help but think about the long years that we denied rights to black people just because of the color of their skin. Now we are denying people basic human rights because of their sexual orientation and it absolutely sickens me. How can you look at these people and say that just because they choose a lifestyle that you wouldn't choose for yourself that they are less than you. That they don't deserve to live their life just as fully and freely as you because of who they choose to love.

Some do this in God's name and say that God is against homosexuality and therefore we need to follow his example and try to rid the world of gays. Do you know who you sound like when you do that? To me you sound like Hitler. Are we going to round up all the gays and send them away to death camps like the Nazi's did to the Jews? How can you say that God hates gays? God doesn't hate anyone. God LOVES us all. No matter our age, sex, race, religion, or sexual orientation. He loves us all because he created us in his image. ALL of us. God doesn't make mistakes, so the fact that someone is gay must mean that God wanted them that way. We, as his mere creations cannot even begin to fathom how his mind works, so who are we to say what he would do.

People will probably try to quote the verse in Leviticus that says that man should not lie with a man like with a woman. That this verse shows us that homosexuality is wrong and should be punished. But if you read the verses that surround that one, there are also versus on how we should kill any man who commits adultery, or gets divorced, or gets a tattoo... Are we supposed to follow all of these... Do we follow all of these... Of course not.

I believe that the whole Bible is the Word of God, and I am not denying that following it is important. But I also know that many of the verses in the Old Testament (especially the laws) were changed later. At the time they were given, they were meant to be followed but as time went on some of these laws were dropped or changed in the Jewish custom. Because that's what the OT laws are, they are the laws of the Jewish people. Well, I am not a Jew so tend to believe that those OT laws are meant to be taken only in the context that they were written in, we are not meant to take them and try to apply them to a time and circumstance for which they were not written. I also believe that when Christ came a new set of laws were given. Christ came to seek and save the lost as well as bring about His new covenant, new law. In that new law He taught us to love our neighbors and our enemies. To show compassion and mercy and to live out His teachings.

To me this means that I need to show love to everyone. I may not understand the gay lifestyle, but that doesn't mean that I am going to diminish that community. They all deserve the same love, respect and RIGHTS, that every other person in this country has. You can't help who you fall in love with or are attracted to. My roommates and I aren't attracted to the same type of guys, but that doesn't mean that I am going to disregard their feelings. Some people think that Robert Pattinson is good looking, but I do not. Does that mean that person is wrong? No. We just have a difference in opinion. Does their liking of someone that I don't like mean they are below me? Absolutely not. So why do we spend so much time trying to diminish the gay community instead of embracing them. Just because their 'culture' is different from the rest of ours doesn't mean they don't have the right to the same rights as the rest of us. Do we go around denying rights to Asians or Spanish or Germans? No! So why are we doing it to the gay community?

Recently some controversy was stirred up because the popular Fox show GLEE showed two teenage GAY boys sharing a kiss. Some people on the right side of the political spectrum were outraged that this was allowed to happen. But why? It wasn't graphic or unnecessarily lewd. It was a chaste kiss that came at an appropriate time in the two boys' relationship. They only reason people seemed to have a problem with it was because it was two guys. If the kiss had happened between two of the straight characters I don't believe that anyone would have cared.

People used to look down on interracial marriages or marriages where there was a huge age gap between the pair. Now, we are looking down on same-sex couples. People say that allowing same-sex marriages is going to hinder the sanctity of marriage. Well, I think that heterosexuals are doing a fairly good job at destroying the sanctity of marriage all by ourselves. The divorce rate is higher than it has ever been, Charlie Sheen lives with a 'family' of hookers and people are still allowed to get married (drunk) in Vegas. How about we stop diluting ourselves and looking for a scapegoat. We need to take a good, long look in the mirror and see the damage that we have caused. Instead of telling these people that they don't belong, we need to embrace them and perhaps this too will pass into normalcy.

I think all this judgement and hate needs to stop. We are never going to fully understand cultures/lifestyles of those who are different than us, but I don't think we have to. I do believe however that we need to accept who we are and accept the fact that there is always going to be someone different than you. We aren't all the same, because God didn't intend for us all to be the same. That would be boring. However, we can accept the differences between us and learn to love and respect each other.

If we all could just show each other love and respect than the world would be a much better place.